Ludwig Lew Wetzel Indian Fighter
Carried on a One-Man Thirty Years War in Ohio and West Virginia
Apr 12, 2007
Obsession is a terrible thing - especially for a soldier. In the 18th century American colonial frontier there was a fine line between murder and self preservation. This line was a myth for frontiersman Ludwig Wetzel. Born on what was then the frontier of the Virginia Colony in 1764, he grew up in the forests with a rifle in his hand. His life changed when his father, Austrian born Johann Wetzel, was killed while hunting by an Indian war party. Wetzel and his four older brothers pledged to avenge his death with that of every Indian they could find. Many Native American members of the Shawnee, Miami and Delaware nation as well as others lost their lives to this man while at war and at peace.
Over a thirty year period Ludwig became a hunter of men. It is believed that he shot as many men in this time period as the World Record-holding Finnish sniper Simo Hayha shot Russians during the Winter War (1939-1940). The difference is that "Lew" Wetzel was only a soldier acting under orders for a short period of that time. French trappers living amongst the local Indians of what is now West Virginia and Ohio spread the tale of Wetzel far and wide. He was dubbed by them, "Le Vent de la Mort” (The Wind of the Death). He became something of a boogeyman figure. He cultivated a fearsome appearance, complete with buckskin clothing, collected scalps of his victims, pierced ears and a thick braided ponytail. Wetzel used a .31 caliber flintlock jager rifled musket, loaded with spherical balls and a light powder load so that his shots would be nearly silent and produce very little flash and smoke that would give his position away. He was also skilled enough to fire six aimed shot per minute which was twice the amount the most practiced marksmen of the time could do.
During the American Revolutionary War a teenaged Wetzel and at least some of his brothers served with the Colonial Army as scouts, where they took part in the siege of Ft Henry (now Wheeling, WV), as well as some campaigning after the war. He continued with his one-man personal grudge after hostilities ceased. In 1791 he was arrested for killing several peaceful Indians in Ohio and shooting QueŸshaw-say, a Delaware chief and peace emissary, for no cause. By this time he was seen as more of a mass murderer than a hero and his sanity was doubted. He escaped custody and fled to Spanish-held Louisiana where he died in 1808. What is believed to be his body was recovered from the grave in 1942 near Natchez, Mississippi and moved to West Virginia only two miles from his family home. Wetzel County in West Virginia is named after him. He is mentioned in several fictional western books including three by Zane Grey.
Sources
History of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of West Virginia (DeHass), 1851, available from McClain Printing Company, 212 Main Street, Parsons, West Virginia 26287
Lewis Wetzel, Indian Fighter, The Life & Times of a Frontier Hero - C.B. Allman
Lewis Wetzel: Warfare Tactics on the Frontier -George Carroll Volume 50 (1991), pp. 79-90
